Most hones are maintained stationary and the workpiece is rotated relative to the hone to recondition the workpiece. This requires substantial effort to set-up the workpiece relative to the honing fixture. Runout checks on the workpiece, particularly for precision honing, additionally require the removal of the workpiece from the hone and rotary device. This, in turn, necessitates additional and repititious set-ups for further honing to the desired surface. Concentricity of the surface to be reconditioned with the original axis of the workpiece is also extremely difficult, if not impossible, to maintain with a fixed hone and a rotating workpiece.
Hones adapted to rotate about a fixed workpiece are, of course, well known. It will be appreciated, however, that when an external hone rotates about a workpiece, a torque is developed, tending to thrust the honing fixture laterally in the direction of rotation. In the absence of compensation for this applied torque, a non-uniform loading on the surface of the workpiece occurs, with the result that the axis of the honing fixture tends to shift relative to the axis of the workpiece. Further, if the weight of the honing fixture and ancillary equipment are applied to the workpiece during honing, the coaxial relation of the workpiece and honing fixture would similarly tend to shift.